Scottish Executive

Enterprise

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial or other assistance the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition receives from public funds.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition does not receive financial or other assistance from public funds.

Ferry Services

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions have taken place concerning the placing by Caledonian MacBrayne of an order for the construction of a passenger ferry vessel.

Nicol Stephen: We have been considering, in conjunction with Caledonian MacBrayne, future infrastructure and vessel investment requirements as part of the development of the final tender specification for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services tendering exercise. I hope to make an announcement shortly about future investment in new vessels and related harbours infrastructure following our consideration of a number of investment appraisals undertaken by the company.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent American signal crayfish, or similar species, are present in Scottish rivers and lochs; whether it will list those locations where they have been identified, and what steps it has taken in response to their presence.

Lewis Macdonald: North American Signal Crayfish have been confirmed in river locations in the Kirkcudbright Dee, the Skyre Burn (Fleet catchment), Daer Water (Clyde catchment), the River Earn (Tay catchment), two locations in Fife and in the River Nairn. Sightings have also been reported in ponds in the North Esk, Tay and River Tyne (East Lothian) catchments.

  Under the terms of the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Scotland) Order 2003 it is an offence to both keep and release crayfish without a licence from Scottish ministers. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 also makes it an offence to release this species into the wild.

  Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has taken steps to deal with the signal crayfish issue in Scotland. As well as helping to fund eradication programmes, it has also commissioned a research report entitled, Preparation and Implementation of a Strategy for the Containment of American Signal Crayfish in the River Dee Catchment, Kirkcudbrightshire. SNH is also involved in the development of publicity materials for this species, which are designed to educate the public about the dangers of translocating signal crayfish to other waters.

Life Expectancy

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in which year the average male life expectancy in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Scotland first exceeded the current average life expectancy for males in (i) Glasgow, (ii) Dundee, (iii) West Dunbartonshire, (iv) Inverclyde, (v) North Lanarkshire, (vi) East Ayrshire, (vii) North Ayrshire, (viii) Clackmannanshire, (ix) Renfrewshire and (x) Eilean Siar.

Tavish Scott: The required information is shown in the following table:

  

 
 
(a)
(b)


Males
Expectation of Life at Birth
2001-03
Year in which expectation of life at birth for UK first exceeded the level shown

Year in which expectation of life at birth for Scotland first exceeded the level shown


UK
75.9
 
 


Scotland
73.5
1993
 


(i) Glasgow
69.1
1974
1981


(ii) Dundee City
72.0
1587
1996


(iii) West Dunbartonshire
70.8
1981
1991


(iv) Inverclyde
70.2
1979
1987


(v) North Lanarkshire
71.9
1986
1996


(vi) East Ayrshire
72.5
1989
1999


(vii) North Ayrshire
72.7
1990
2000


(viii) Clackmannan
73.5
1993
2002


(ix) Renfrewshire
71.9
1987
1996


(x) Eilean Siar
71.6
1985
1994

Life Expectancy

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in which year the average female life expectancy in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Scotland first exceeded the current average life expectancy for females in (i) Glasgow, (ii) Dundee, (iii) West Dunbartonshire, (iv) Inverclyde, (v) North Lanarkshire, (vi) East Ayrshire, (vii) North Ayrshire, (viii) Clackmannanshire, (ix) Renfrewshire and (x) Eilean Siar.

Tavish Scott: The required information is shown in the following table:

  

Females
 
(a)
(b)


Expectation of Life at Birth
2001-03
Year in which expectation of life at birth for UK first exceeded the level shown
Year in which expectation of life at birth for Scotland first exceeded the level shown


UK
80.5
 
 


Scotland
78.9
1993
 


(i) Glasgow
76.4
1980
1988


(ii) Dundee City
77.8
1987
1997


(iii) West Dunbartonshire
77.4
1985
1995


(iv) Inverclyde
77.8
1987
1997


(v) North Lanarkshire
77.4
1985
1995


(vi) East Ayrshire
78.0
1988
1998


(vii) North Ayrshire
78.5
1991
2000


(viii) Clackmannan
78.6
1991
2002


(ix) Renfrewshire
78.1
1989
1999


(x) Eilean Siar
79.6
1998

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10633 by Cathy Jamieson on 28 September 2004, whether the costs and penalties within any future private prison contract will be regarded as commercially sensitive and, if so, what change in existing practice is required by the new Scottish Ministers’ Code of Practice on the Discharge of Functions by Public Authorities under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 provides that material may be withheld from publication for a number of reasons. Most exemptions are subject to a public interest test. In deciding the extent of publication of any future contract for private prisons, the SPS will need to consider (at that time) whether the harm likely to arise from the publication of certain information outweighs the public interest in releasing the information. The code of practice provides best practice guidance to public authorities to help them comply with their full range of duties under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8442 by Cathy Jamieson on 8 June 2004, why information in tender documents relating to a contract that has already been concluded is commercially sensitive.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  In responding to the invitation to tender, suppliers’ tenders contain information that is commercially sensitive and are submitted in confidence. That information remains commercially sensitive even after contract award.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the information required under section 2 of part 1 of Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information relating to the facts and analysis which provided the basis for consideration of the privatisation of prisoner escort services.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7558 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 May 2004, what the cost to the public purse would have been over the same period had the provision of prisoner escort services not been privatised.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  I refer the member to the question S2W-11075 answered on 19 October 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will match the 2.5% per annum efficiency target, first set out in Her Majesty’s Government’s Budget 2004 - Prudence for a Purpose: A Britain of Stability and Strength and confirmed for each UK department in the recent spending review.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the target for savings of up to 2.5% a year by 2007-08 set out first in Her Majesty’s Government’s Budget 2004 - Prudence For A Purpose: A Britain of Stability and Strength will be observed (a) overall and (b) by each Executive department and whether any official statement has been made to this effect in the six months since the target was first outlined.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive in what respect planned efficiency savings in Scotland will exceed those in the United Kingdom.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet has yet agreed (a) an overall target or (b) department by department targets for public sector efficiency savings.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to match both the cash-releasing and non-cash efficiency savings targets set for United Kingdom departments in the recent spending review.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the same percentage of savings that are envisaged as cash-releasing in Her Majesty’s Government’s spending review will apply in Scotland and what percentage this will be.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to exceed the targets set out by Sir Peter Gershon in his report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency , for efficiency savings without incurring at least a comparable impact on jobs as that predicted in the Gershon report.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Scottish-specific analysis comparable to that carried out in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency , has been carried out on the potential impact on jobs of planned efficiency savings and, if so, whether such analysis will be published.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the timetable proposed by Sir Peter Gershon in his report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency , to deliver UK planned efficiency savings applies in Scotland and, if not, how the timetable differs.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether and, if so, when, it will publish the process whereby it intends to deliver higher cash efficiency savings than planned in the rest of the United Kingdom and whether the same timetable applies.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will follow the model proposed in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency , of publishing, by department, efficiency savings plans to allow transparency in their delivery.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the commitment to productivity improvement in the private and public sectors highlighted in its Framework for Economic Development in Scotland strategy will involve matching the 2.5% public sector efficiency target announced for the rest of the United Kingdom in Her Majesty’s Government’s Budget 2004 – Prudence for a Purpose: A Britain of Stability and Strength .

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any equivalent Scottish analysis to that presented in tables 4.1 and 4.2 of Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency , and whether it intends to produce comparable agreed efficiency targets for its departments and, if so, on what timescale.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will parallel the commitment in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency , that in order to ensure confidence and credibility of the measures, Her Majesty’s Government is inviting the National Audit Office and the Audit Commission to scrutinise departmental efficiency technical notes before publication.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its departments will be required to set out efficiency technical notes setting out the measures and methodologies that they will use to assess efficiency savings and whether departments will then publish final versions of these documents by the end of October, as is planned in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any equivalent Scottish review to that announced in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency , that "HM Treasury will conduct a department by department review of the effectiveness of financial management"

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any equivalent programme to parallel the commitment in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency that the Audit Commission will strengthen its measurement of local authorities’ use of resources within the revised comprehensive performance assessment from 2005.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to publish the efficiency targets that have been agreed for each department comparable to those published in Annex C of Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency .

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to set targets for productive time savings that account for 40% of the agreed UK efficiency targets.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive will publish its plans for Efficient Government as soon as possible after recess.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the source was for the statement that for the United Kingdom the percentage target for cash savings is 1.25% ( Official Report col. 10046, 8 September 2004).

Mr Tom McCabe: Budget 2004 – Prudence for a Purpose: A Britain of Stability and Strength sets a target for efficiency savings of 2.5% a year over the three years of the 2004 Spending Review period. In most chapters of Stability, security and opportunity for all: investing for Britain's long-term future , the proportion of savings described as cashable, cash-releasing or recyclable is "at least half".

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how a £500 million saving in its budget by 2007-08 exceeds planned UK cash savings arising from Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency .

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive has never claimed that the £500 million saving in its budget by 2007-08 exceeds planned UK cash savings.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Parliament was informed of the planned 2% efficiency savings over three years and whether this information first appeared in the media.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Parliament was informed that the target for efficiency savings was £500 million per annum by 2007-08 on 24 June 2004 in a statement by Andy Kerr, Minister for Finance and Public Services. A target of £500 million savings by 2007-08 is 2.4% of the Scottish Executive 2004-05 Departmental Expenditure Limit. The target for efficiency savings was published in the media on the following day. On 28 September 2004, the answer given to question S2W-10434 informed the Parliament that the Efficient Government plan, to be published shortly, will exceed this target and identifies planned efficiency savings of £650 million by 2007-08.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, if an (a) 2% per annum or (b) 2% over three years efficiency saving was applied to the budget in the current spending review, what sums each saving would yield.

Mr Tom McCabe: If a 2% per annum efficiency saving was applied to the Scottish Total Departmental Expenditure Limit for each year of the spending review, as allocated in Stability, security and opportunity for all: investing for Britain's long-term future, this would yield a recurring saving of £1.45 billion by the end of the spending review. If a 2% over three years efficiency saving target was applied to the Scottish Executive Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2004-05, this would yield a recurring efficiency saving of £424 million by the end of the spending review.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Finance and Public Services has completed his spending review.

Mr Tom McCabe: Yes. It has been completed and was announced on 29 September 2004.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the commitment in Her Majesty’s Government’s Budget 2004 – Prudence for a Purpose: A Britain of Stability and Strength , that the administration costs of all departments will be capped at, or below, the 2005-06 nominal level for the remainder of the 2004 spending review period, is to be matched by the Executive’s departments.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive’s spending plans for 2005-08 were set out in Building a Better Scotland which was published on 29 September. Table 13.01, on page 58, outlines the Executive’s spending on administration. Running costs for the Executive’s core administration will be held flat in cash terms from 2005-06 for the remainder of the Spending Review period.

  Capital spending by the core administration will increase by £1.6 million in 2006-07 and £1.8 million in 2007-08. In addition, there are increases in funding for the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) and the National Archives of Scotland. The most significant of these increases is to allow GROS to conduct a census test in 2006-07. Taking these changes into account, the overall administration budget will increase from £260.02 million in 2006-07 to £264.40 million in 2007-08. It will then decrease to £263.77 million in 2007-08.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any targets for efficiency savings have been set for 2005-06 and 2006-07 for the Scottish budget as a result of the recent UK spending review; if so, what percentage of the total Scottish budget they represent in each year and when they were made known to the Parliament.

Mr Tom McCabe: No targets for efficiency savings have been set for the Scottish budget as a result of the recent UK spending review. The Executive has set its own targets and details of the efficiency gains we aim to secure will be published in our forthcoming Efficient Government plan.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the statement in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency that "to go further or faster than the savings set out in my review during the period 2005-06 to 2007-08 would put at risk the delivery of public services."

Mr Tom McCabe: The level of efficiencies set for UK Departments is a matter for the UK Government. The Scottish Executive will judge what is appropriate for public services in Scotland.

Public Sector

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what it understands by the statement in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency that "I note that the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly Government have announced that they are engaged in making annual efficiency gains as ambitious as those in England."

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive is undertaking an efficiency initiative that is as ambitious as the Gershon review in its scope and will seek to secure comparable or greater gains in efficiency. The Executive was engaged in securing efficiencies in the public sector before the Gershon review. Its Efficient Government initiative will go on until 2010 – longer than the activity outlined in the Gershon report.

Social Work

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are training to become social workers and whether this number will be sufficient to meet the requirements of social work departments in the next three years.

Euan Robson: Increasing numbers of students are completing social work training.

  In 1999, 397 graduated as qualified social workers;

  in 2000, 351;

  in 2001, 340;

  in 2002, 373, and

  in 2003, 469.

  The Fast-Track Graduate Recruitment Scheme may add up to 150 further entrants per year to 2007 and on this basis, total numbers graduating as qualified social workers should rise to as many as nearly 700 per year over the next three-year period.

  Current vacancies are around 600. This fact, coupled with the significant growth of social worker posts in recent years, means that it is not possible to say for certain that the requirements of social work departments will all be fully met in the next three years. Resolving recruitment and retention issues has never been seen as short-term and ministers have stated on many occasions that only a sustained commitment will achieve the objective of a confident and competent workforce of sufficient numbers.

Social Work

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many mature students have commenced social work training in each of the last four years and what proportion of the total number of trainee social workers these figures represent.

Euan Robson: Figures from Universities and Colleges Admissions Services show the following:

  

Year
No of Mature Students (25 yrs+)
Percentage of Total Intake
Total Intake


2000
229
61.9%
370


2001
274
63.4%
432


2002
280
53.4%
524


2003
325
58%
560

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £3 billion it announced for investment in new transport infrastructure and initiatives in 2002 (a) has been spent and (b) remains to be spent, broken down by project.

Nicol Stephen: In the past two financial years 2002-03 and 2003-04 we spent over £86 million on the major transport infrastructure projects set out in the Transport White Paper Scotland’s Transport Future .

  The final capital costs of these projects will depend on the prices achieved through tendering and these are affected by both the market at the time and the type of contract awarded.